Scrambled eggs from powder
 

Hi,

since I am a Plat I try to stay within the Marriott group for my travel within the US. Usually stay at RI and FFI properties because they are closest to where I need to be.

What's bothering me is that disgusting egg powder being used for the buffet breakfast scrambled eggs at most properties. Only "most" - I was served scrambled eggs made from actual eggs at the Chicago Downtown North RI a few weeks ago (THANK YOU). I understand egg powder is cheaper and essentially non-perishable but it is so incredibly disgusting that I have resorted to eating granola yoghurt only, which admittedly is probably the healthier choice anyhow :rolleyes: But I still like my scrambled eggs in the mornings.

Rant finished, now the questions:

- I have never stayed at Townhill or Springhill Suites - do they make their scrambled eggs with powder or real eggs?

- Is anyone else bothered by this?

people have shared similar opinions in this thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...ffet-eggs.html

Free often doesn't equate to good.

I don't eat egg yolks, but I'm told that a little ketchup or tabasco works wonders.

Thanks. Did a search before but obviously with wrong key words

Sorry, I don't smoke or chew.

I think he might have meant "tabasco" :p

Yup, darn autocorrect. Fixed it. Thanks.

Most of the lower end tier hotels use powder for their scrambled eggs, or from liquid eggs. And yes I avoid them for the same reasons.

However, many of them also have the make-your-own breakfast sandwich bar, with the pre-made eggs that are slightly more palatable.

The yolk is the best part! Ketchup and tabasco do work wonders

Only when they don't have hard-boiled eggs. Fairfields generally do, not sure about the other brands (where the hot eggs may be suspicious).

It's is so much harder to make hard-boiled eggs from powdered eggs or liquid eggs! :) But scrambled eggs or omelets, they're made from mixed up eggs so they're all too easy to make from powdered or liquid eggs.

I'm with OP 100%. Stay often in the Ren Worthington in Ft. Worth, which IMO is a great hotel and am regularly amazed that on one hand they can have all of these wonderful snacks, sodas, cheeses, etc., and on the other serve watery powdered eggs in the morning. It just grosses me out. Maybe the "appetite reduction factor" is the hidden purpose.

I would just live with the fact that you are staying at a lower end property and this is what you receive. I don't think Hampton Inn or Hyatt House do much better.

You get what you pay for. You may, of course, order from the menu and specify what you want the eggs made with. Or go to a place outside the hotel.

Just like bottom shelf booze for free in airline lounges.

How do you know these are "powdered" eggs? At most low-end chain properties (this would include FF, SHS and competitors like Hampton, Holiday Inn Express etc.) the eggs are usually these discs either served plain or wrapped around a cheese or meat filling (a.k.a. "omelette") that you serve yourself with tongs. These are obviously pre-made and are just heated on-site rather than cooked as most of the low-end properties do not have a full food prep facility, much less a cook.

Even at higher end properties with a full kitchen, the scrambled eggs may well be cooked on site but will be from a pre-mix from a carton. This is almost universal in the industry as the pre-mix egg solution has a longer shelf life both before and after cooking and won't go bad on a buffet as quickly. You should peruse the Sysco catalog for all kinds of egg options for institutional kitchens.

If you want your eggs freshly cracked from a shell, order them fried (as I do ;) ).

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The discs beat the powdered egg soup any day.

I haven't seen anything on powdered eggs, but liquid eggs and fresh eggs are going to be jumping in price due to bird flu. Sysco and other food distributors have warned their locations.

More places might be going to powdered eggs to save money.

Not talking about those, they do have them on occasion though. Talking about the big buckets of scrambled eggs.

I thought about this thread yesterday morning at a Marriott... and decided against the eggs.

Even if made from "real" eggs, any (scrambled) eggs that have been sitting on a steam table for a long time will be rubbery and gross. I generally avoid them.

You seriously must be new to mid-tier U.S. properties if powdered eggs and sausage patties as the breakfast protein is a new concept. I'd much rather have powdered eggs than real eggs drowning in cream as they do in Europe and Asia (a little throw up in my mouth just thinking about it).

Most fresh eggs producing areas are not as impacted by the avian flu. However, the egg ingredient producing regions(especially Iowa)have been hit hard. It may actually be cheaper for most to actually use real fresh eggs again. What a concept.:D

I am indeed.

I have no problem with liquid/powdered eggs at RI, SHS, FI for breakfast. My goal in the morning is to quickly get protein and fiber to power me until lunch. I certainly wouldn't call it a delicious breakfast, but it is quite utilitarian and nutritious. I've been eating roughly the same thing for breakfast on average 3 days a week between SHS and RI for nearly a year.

I will gladly take the scrambled "egg product" over pastries and small boxes of cereal.

But why not hard-boiled eggs? The average FI has them, don't the RIs and SHSs have them?

I'd much rather eat hard-boiled eggs than that powered egg stuff at FI (though I'm not sure if all RIs and SHSs use powdered or just liquid eggs, which IMHO aren't nearly as bad as powdered).

I actually carry a travel sized bottle of hot sauce in my bag for just these situations! They can make eggs like that palatable. I also like when hotels provide shredded cheese for the eggs that also goes a long way.

A dozen eggs at wholesale has doubled in price lately. It may take some time to go back down as they need to replace 30 million hens (or some such).

I actually like the big vat of powdered eggs, as long as they are wet.

Don't powdered eggs start out as real eggs? Wouldn't they be affected as well? Or am I completely off base?

There go the hard boiled eggs that I eat at most Marriotts...

I saw a sign yesterday in a RI saying that there will be no more eggs at breakfast because they cannot be obtained from the food supplier that the hotel uses. Most guests were commenting that there's no egg shortage in the USA, just higher prices for eggs.

Yes, but not to the same degree. Whole eggs have grading standards to be met whereas the powdered eggs not so much. Hard boiled eggs would be among the premium eggs, so expect those cut the most. :(

That would piss me off, since I couldn't even eat anything for breakfast then.

Sounds like another made-up response to justify not delivering a service. I doubt the supplier doesn't have a source. The only shortage I've seen is in my refrigerator, I'm not paying the high price as often.

Doubled in price where?

This is a regional problem in a few states in the mid-section of the USA. I doubt the prices of eggs are the same everywhere in all 50 states of the USA, let alone worldwide. Yet FT is a worldwide forum.

I was at a Trader Joe's in Los Angeles the other day, and at the sampling station the new item they were promoting was their prepackaged hard-boiled eggs. But I know from experience that the packaged Trader Joe's products I see in Los Angeles don't tend to appear in Trader Joe's DC area locations, so I doubt these eggs come from anywhere near the mid-section of the USA. I don't see why they'd promoting such a product if the price had just skyrocketed in SoCal, but then I haven't paid attention to egg prices here in SoCal so I have no idea how they've done here.

Where was this RI?

There are entire farms that are shut down in a few states. If a local supplier had been using exclusively one such farm, I can see how they could have a shortage, even though stores in the area might only have higher prices, not a shortage.

But you'd have to be pretty close to the epicenter of this issue for that to be likely. So if it's an RI in Iowa, I might consider their explanation somewhat reasonable, but if it's an RI in California, forget it.

The normal range of wholesale US egg prices is about 20¢. The national average price peaked last week and is down about a dime this week. The number of egg-laying chickens is down 8% but chick incubation is up 11%.

You are correct in that this is primarily a regional problem for fresh eggs. Egg ingredient producers are more concentrated in the area where there are disease outbreaks, so this impacts prices for those who purchase the processed eggs. Many companies are taking advantage of the situation and raising prices in areas that have no fresh egg supply problems.

It is interesting that egg prices in California had already increased prior to the avian flu due to new state legislation that increased the minimum size of the hen cages. Egg prices increased 40+% in some areas due to this new requirement.